What Is "ASGARD"?
When you hear the word Asgard, you automatically think ‘Asgard, the home of Thor, God of Thunder’ and funnily enough, that’s exactly where we got the inspiration from!
We wanted a name that portrayed strength and security in our metal sheds, qualities that are embedded into all of our products. We went through all the names that represented those qualities and quickly found out that many of the names related to Vikings or Greek or Roman Mythology were already taken. When looking through Norse mythology, one of the names that popped up was the fortress home of the Norse Gods, Asgard. What better sums up Asgard storage than a fortress!
While many may be familiar with the name thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Chris Hemsworth playing Thor, the God of Thunder from Asgard, the name also characterises our steel sheds in terms of the strength (like the Norse Gods) and the security within Asgard (we won’t mention Thor: Ragnarok).
The Birth Of The Asgard Brand
2003 marks the start of Asgard, the sister company of Flexiform Office Furniture. Asgard started off by making ‘storage boxes’ for caravan sites when our Factory Manager, Ray Parker, was holidaying on the coast in his static caravan. He noticed other van owners on the site creating makeshift storage units out of wood, these looked awful and posed something of a fire risk. Feeling inspired, Ray pulled out the sketch pad and began to design the first Asgard shed, from concept to prototype, Ray used 40 years of manufacturing experience and knowledge of sheet steel manufacturing to create the first prototype Asgard caravan storage shed… named after its creator … the Parker Box was born. These new storage boxes blended in with the caravans both in colour and style. To the right is the first-ever line drawing of the Parker Box. |
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The first prototypes were originally made from sheet steel, with the intention of sending it out for hot-dip galvanising to protect it from the elements. However, this didn’t work out so well.
‘Unfortunately, we hadn't allowed for the hot dipping which totally distorted the panels. That was when we decided to manufacture them from pre-galvanised steel and the first prototypes were made.’ - Ray Parker, Factory Manager.
We decided that we needed a range of models if we were to create a new product group so we designed and made five products which we had tested for strength and security. After several failures and redesigns, we got our Loss Prevention certification and decided to launch the first Asgard range at the Chelsea Flower Show. The range was well received, and Asgard was born!
With every event, we were asked to make specials for people which eventually became part of the range. During the Calor Gas Roadshow, we were asked to make boxes for gas bottles and the special recommendations continued. Since its inception, Asgard has gone from strength to strength as the years have rolled on. We have added more products to the range, each product designed and manufactured in-house by our own engineering team - some of which have been here from the start.
We continued on with the trend of naming our steel sheds based on strength and security: Gladiator portrays the brave swordsman during Roman times whilst Centurion embodies the officer who would go into battle with his 200 to 1000 legionaries. The Trojan is named after the Trojan Horse, an incredible story of how the Greeks entered Troy using a wooden horse. With our ongoing research and development being at the heart of Asgard, the Trojan shed has now developed into the Trojan Plus Bike and Garden Shed, keeping the strength of the original name, but we have made the products even bigger and better.
In the past ten years, we have seen Asgard grow into an industry-leading metal shed and storage company, with industry and Team GB affiliates. Check out our customer feedback to see the thousands of happy customers.
We continue to design new products and improve existing products, ensuring we provide the strongest, most secure steel storage on the market.
